Әлемгир II: Мұғал әмірінің тарихы

Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759

Mirza Aziz ud Din Muhammad (June 6, 1699 – November 29, 1759), better known by his regnal name Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah. Born Mirza Aziz ud Din, the second son of Jahandar Shah, was raised to the throne by Imad ul Mulk after he deposed Ahmad Shah Bahadur in 1754. On ascending the throne, he took the title of Alamgir and tried to follow the approach of Aurangzeb (Alamgir I). At the time of his accession to the throne he was 55 years old. He had no experience of administration and warfare as he had spent most of his life in jail. He was a weak ruler, with all powers vested in the hand of his vizier, Imad ul Mulk. In 1756, Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India once again and captured Delhi and plundered Mathura. While the Marathas became more powerful because of their collaboration with Imad ul Mulk, and dominated the whole of northern India. This was the peak of the Maratha expansion, which caused great trouble for the Mughal Empire, already weak with no strong ruler. Relations between Alamgir II and his usurping vizier, Imad ul Mulk had now deteriorated, their troubled relation would culminate in the murder of Alamgir by Imad ul Mulk. Alamgir II's son Ali Gauhar escaped persecution from Delhi, while Shah Jahan III was placed on the throne.

Alamgir II was born Aziz ud Din on 6 June 1699 at Burhanpur and was the second son of Muizz ud Din, the son of future Emperor Bahadur Shah (Shah Alam). His mother was a jat, Anup Bai, with little clarity about her existence. Aziz ud Din was 7 when his great grandfather Aurangzeb died in the Deccan. After the death of his grandfather, Bahadur Shah I, and the war of succession that followed, his father, Jahandar Shah, was defeated, by the next Mughal Emperor, Farrukhsiyar. Aziz ud Din was then imprisoned in 1714 and released in 1754, by the usurping Vizier Imad ul Mulk, he perceived Aziz ud Din as a frail personality who would not object his regime. Therefore, on 2 June 1754, Aziz ud Din was given the title Alamgir II by the vizier out of his own recommendation, as he wanted to follow the centralised approach of Aurangzeb.

Imad ul Mulk hired Maratha mercenaries to do his bidding and put all the imperial revenues into his own pocket and starved Alamgir II's family. He also persecuted Ali Gauhar, the elder son of Alamgir II. Since then, relations between Alamgir II and Imad ul Mulk's regime were so bad that the latter got him assassinated in November 1759.

After the emergence of Alamgir II the Mughal Empire had impulsively began to re centralize, particularly when many Nawabs sought the gratification of the Mughal Emperor and his co ordination regarding their resistance to the Maratha. This development was clearly unwelcome by Imad ul Mulk who sought to strengthen his authoritarianism with the undaunted support of the Marathas. His Amir ul Umara and Mir Bakhshi continued to be Mirza Ashraf, the son of Khan Dowran VII(a noble in the reign of Farrukhsiyar and Muhammad Shah).

In the year 1755, the acclaimed Mughal viceroy of Punjab, Moin ul Mulk died, his widow Mughlani Begum desperately sought the assistance of Ahmad Shah Durrani to halt any succession struggle and to quell the Sikh rebels in the eastern regions. Ahmad Shah Durrani and his forces then marched into Lahore in the year 1756 and appointed his son Timur Shah Durrani as the new viceroy at Lahore, under the protection of the commander Jahan Khan and also placed Adina Beg as the Faujdar of Doab. Ahmad Shah Durrani then plundered Sikh and Hindu inhabitants in the unstable and outlawed eastern regions of the Punjab. He then marched towards Delhi, in January 1757, the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II with courtiers such as Shah Waliullah, nobles such as Najib ul Daula, and the imperial family went to meet Ahmad Shah Durrani, whose forces then engaged the Marathas in combat and threatened to overthrow and execute the regime of Imad ul Mulk. Ahmad Shah Durrani's relations with the Mughal Emperor, strengthened further when his son Timur Shah Durrani was chosen as the suitor of Alamgir II's daughter Zuhra Begum. Ahmad Shah Durrani himself also married Hadrat Begum the daughter of the former Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. Ahmad Shah Durrani returned to Kabul leaving his forces led by his son Timur Shah Durrani consolidating themselves inside the garrisons of Lahore where they founded the Zamzama cannon with the assistance of Mughal Metalsmiths. He was supported by Mohammad Bahawal Khan II (Nawab Amir of Bhawalpur) and Muhammad Nasir Khan I (Khanate of Kalat).

In July 1757, the Marathas led by Raghunathrao rejected the alliance established between the Durrani Empire and the Mughal Empire, they were assisted by Imad ul Mulk and encamped 30 km opposite to the Red Fort and occupied all the villages by the Jamuna they began to besiege Delhi. The Marathas fought against Alamgir II's incumbent Mir Bakhshi ("Paymaster") Najib ul Daula along with his lieutenants Qutub Shah and Aman Khan and a Mughal Army of 2,500 garrisoned inside the metropolis of Delhi. The angry Maratha set ferries ablaze and stopped food supplies from entering Delhi, while Najib ul Daula positioned his heavy artillery outside the vicinity of the Red Fort. Unable to gain any assistance from Ahmad Shah Durrani, who was engaged in quelling various rebellions near Herat; Najib ul Daula surrendered after resisting the combined brigands of Maratha Confederacy for more than five months, he conceded defeat and withdrew to Najibabad. When the Marathas entered Delhi the emperor Alamgir II and his royal family had somehow fled to Bharatpur State. The Marathas looted and plundered the city and the people of Delhi. Mosques and Shrines built by the Mughals were desecrated; and the Peshwa conspired to place Vishwasrao upon the Mughal throne. Imad ul Mulk was reappointed Mir Bakhshi and with the support of the Marathas. Not long after entering Delhi the Marathas encountered a Jat regiment sent by Suraj Mal who now began to claim sovereignty over Delhi. The Jat also plundered Delhi but soon afterwards made it possible for Alamgir II and the Mughal royal family to return to Delhi from Bharatpur. However, despite losing control of Delhi, Najib ul Daula and his associates, such as Qutub Khan and Abdus Samad Khan the Mughal Faujdar of Sirhind, continued to challenge the Maratha Confederacy and its allies during confrontations at Saharanpur and Shahabad Markanda. In response the Marathas sacked the inhabitants of Taraori, Karnal and Kunjpura. These new weapons would completely reverse fortunes of the Maratha rebels. Soon after the Battle of Plassey, the French commander De Bussy, also entitled Saif ud Daula Umdat ul Mulk and Mansabdar of 7000, by the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II. He captured the Northern Circars from the British along with his assistant Hyder Jung the "Vakil" (attorney) representing the French within the Mughal Empire and Salabat Jung. However the Northern Circars were retaken by Forde in the year 1758 and De Bussy was recalled to France. Fearing the worst Salabat Jung reconciled with the English East India Company and recognised their protectorate and was soon overthrown by his own brother Nizam Ali Khan.

In the year 1758, the Mughal Army of Faiz Mohammad Khan the Nawab of Bhopal was treacherously attacked by his step mother Mamola Bai who suddenly besieged the Mughal garrison at Fortress of Raisen in 1758, according to the layout of the Marathas. The outraged Mughal Emperor Alamgir II, then issued a Firman supporting Faiz Mohammad Khan was the Nawab of Bhopal the only chosen administrator of Raisen, the emperor also granted the title Bahadur to Faiz Mohammad Khan the Nawab of Bhopal. However the fort remained under the control of Mamola Bai and the renegade Nanasaheb Peshwa. The fortress of Raisen was quickly retaken by Faiz Mohammad Khan in the year 1760, after the tragic assassination of Alamgir II and after Sadashivrao Bhau threatened to ravage Bhopal prior to the Third Battle of Panipat. It is believed that Faiz Mohammad Khan's Sepoy's were among those who had cut off the various supply routes of the Marathas just before the Third Battle of Panipat.

Najm ad Dawla supported British presence in Cambay. Turning much of his estate into an international "safe zone". Although it is likely that he too had to face threats from the Maratha climax.

In 1758, Hyder Ali and his Sepoy captured Bangalore from "Khande Rao of the Maratha Confederacy". In honour of his achievements during the Carnatic Wars, the king gave him the title "Nawab Haider Ali Khan Bahadur".

In 1758 the Marathas led by Raghunathrao occupied Lahore after extracted an extortion of imperial wealth from Imad ul Mulk, together they conspired the overthrow of young Timur Shah Durrani. Raghunathrao drove out Jahan Khan and Timur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy of Ahmad Shah Durrani. Timur Shah Durrani and his forces were forced to retreat from Lahore to Peshawar under the force of attacks from Sikhs and Marathas. This victory made the belligerent Peshwa, grandiosely sack Delhi, and stated his intentions of placing Vishwasrao on the Mughal throne.

Many of his actions had angered the people of India. Fearing a backlash in the summer of the year 1759 Prince Ali Gauhar escaped from Delhi. Agitated by the daring escape Imad ul Mulk and Sadashivrao Bhau reckoned that Alamgir II was about to advance his son Prince Ali Gauhar, to dispossess and overthrow their regime. After detailed consideration Imad ul Mulk and an angry mob of various ethnic groups plotted to murder the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II and the assassinations of prominent members of his family in the winter of 1759.

The defeat of Alamgir II's son in law, Timur Shah Durrani by the Marathas in the year 1760, provoked the wrath of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who launched a massive campaign gathering more troops than ever before. In response to Imad ul Mulk and Sadashivrao Bhau; Najib ud Daula and his firm alliance of principal Muslim nobles in the Mughal Empire and Ahmad Shah Abdali recaptured Delhi and placed it under the nominal authority of Shah Alam II. In the south Hyder Ali and his Mysore Army ferociously attacked the Maratha. Meanwhile, Shah Alam II anticipated the collapse of the Maratha and declared Shuja ud Daula his Grand Vizier and Najib ud Daula as his honorary Mukhtar Khas (Chief Representative). These developments eventually culminated into rise of religious and political loyalties that eventually clashed at the "Third Battle of Panipat" in the year 1761.

In 1756, the Seven Years' War had broken out and Alamgir II was supported by various international belligerents of that war. It was the first global war in which the Mughal emperor had his involvement apart from the boundaries of India. Alamgir II was initially involved in that war because the British were hasty in their attempts to conquer Bengal Subah. In 1755, De Bussy received letter from new Mughal Emperor Alamgir II requesting French assistance to put down the Maratha Confederacy. Alamgir II asked if it was possible for De Bussy to dispatch a French contingent of 1000 strong to protect the Mughal Empire's capital at Delhi. Alamgir II also promised to pay a hefty sum for the maintenance of the French and even promised to settle disputes in the Carnatic Wars in favour of the French East India Company. In 1757, Alamgir II had successfully achieved peace between the Durrani Emirate and the Mughal Empire. Alamgir II even secured a matrimonial alliance when Timur Shah Durrani married Gauhar Afroz Begam the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II in February 1757 and Ahmad Shah Durrani married Hazrat Begum the daughter of the former Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah in 1757.

in the year 1751, the Swedish East India Company was operating in Surat as a co belligerent of Alamgir II. They were probably instrumental in assisting the first Nawab of Junagadh. It is believed that Alamgir II even tried to reconcile the English East India Company and the French East India Company before his death in 1759.

The newly appointed Mughal Grand Vizier after Ahmad Shah Durrani's invasion was Najib ud Daula who tried to consolidate the remains of the Mughal Empire by uniting distant Faujdars (commanders), Nawab's and Nizams into a common cause against the Marathas. Fearing their wrath the deposed Imad ul Mulk aligned himself with the Maratha leader Sadashivrao Bhau and launched an counterattack against Najib ud Daula which lasted 15 days and resulted in the defeat of Najib ud Daula who was driven north. Imad ul Mulk then feared that the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II would recall Ahmad Shah Durrani, or use his son Prince Ali Gauhar, to dispossess him of his newfound power with the Marathas. Therefore, Imad ul Mulk plotted to murder the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II and his family. A few Mughal Princes, including Ali Gauhar desperately managed to escape before assassination. In November 1759, the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II was told that a pious man had come to meet him, Alamgir II, ever so eager to meet holy men, set out immediately to meet him at Kotla Fateh Shah, he was stabbed repeatedly by Imad ul Mulk's assassins. The Mughal Emperor Alamgir II's death was mourned throughout the Mughal Empire, particularly by the Muslim populace.